Machine for making armored electric cables.



No. 724,571. PATENTED APRY` 7, 1903.

- E. T. CEEENEIELD. MACHINE ECE MAKING AEMCEED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902.

PATENTED APR. 7, 1903.

E. T. GREENEIELD. MACHINE EOEMAKING ARMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902.

SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wentoz attorney; 0

NO MODEL.

No. 724,571. IJATEN'IED APR, 7, v1L903. E. 'I'. GREENIIELD. MACHINE PORMAKING ARMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902. H0 MODEL. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

s k1 u PATENTED APR, '7, 1903.

GREENP'IELD.

MACHINE ECR MAKING ARMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31. 1902.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED? STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN 'l`. GREENFIELD, Ol" MONTICEL), NElV YORK.

MACHINE FOR MAKING AR MORED ELECTRIC .'CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters YPatent N O. 724,571, dated April7, 1903.

Application tiled July 31, 1902. Serial No. 117,810.' (No model.)

Be it known that I, EDWIN T. GREENEIELD, a cit izen of the UnitedStates,iesiding at Monticello, county of Sullivan, and Stateof New York,have made a new and useful Invention in Machines for Man u facturing Armored Electric Cables, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is directedl particularly t-o improvements uponthecable-armoringor tubeorming mechanism disclosed in United States PatentsNos. 1,330,502- and 630,503, granted to me on the Sth dayof August,1895); and it has for its object the manufacture ofarmored electriccables of great lengthsfsuch,foi-instance, as are used in oceantelegraphy or in 'various conductor systems of electricity.

`fith the mechanism disclosed in my beforementioned United StateslatentNo. 630,502 only a limited ,amount of cable may be armored, owing tothe`fact that with such mechanism the cable is rotated as it is armoredand is wound upon a reel, which also rotates with it. It. is-obvious,therefore, that a cable of grcatflength cannot be thus armored, owing totheimmen'se mass or weight thereof, as it is wound upon the reel.

The essential feature of my present/ingen-Htienisthereforettrpeinn'itthe"manufacture constituting the only limit ofthis type of cable in such lengths as can conveniently be transportedfrom place to place, the weight of the same when completed as to thelengthtof,v cable thus armored.

In using the improved mechanism hereinafter described and claimed thearmoring mechanism and armoring material rotate around the cable andv'the latter 'doesfnot rotate, but is fed continuously forward by thearmoring action, so that it is possible to armor a cable of indefinitelength.

For a. full and clear understanding ofthe invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to construct and use the same, reference ishad to the accompanying drawings, in whichl Figure 1 is a sideelevational View of the entire machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof asseen looking at Fig. lvfrom the top toward the bottom of the drawing,some of the driving gear-wheels and the brake-controlling levers beingshown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the brokenline .r .1', Fig. 2, and as seen looking thereat from the bottom ltowardthe top of the drawing in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 4is anenlarged plan view of that part of the mechanism which controls; themovements of the armoringstrips, the interiorof thedics being alsoillustrated in this view with t-he top die removed andan insulatedelectric cable shown in position in the act of being armored. Fig. 5isasectional view taken through the feeding-rolls, one ofthe metallicarmoringstrips, the trough in which is located the guideways for saidstrips, and that portion of the frame which. supports all of saidparts,the dies being shown in this figure in end elevational view.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and first to Figs. 1 to 3,inclusive, i3 2 represent the legs or standards of the machine,preferably four in number, secured directly to the Hoor lby bolts, and 1the base or frame thereof, secured in turn in a similar manner directlyto the upper ends of said legs or standards.

(i represents a rotary table, made, preferably, of iron and secureddirectly by bolts to" the upper end of a hollow rotal/le.4s'}a,"'i5, Y.i011 Fueled at itsnimerferfnn'the frame 1 and atei-tslo'ivfd in aspider having radial arms 3 3, secured directly to the legs 2 2, thelower end of said shaft resting directly 'upon a metal bearing which issupported in turn by a num` ber of metal standards 4 4, rigidly secureddirectly to the tloorf,-as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. Therotary table 6 carries upon its upper surface all of the mechanism andmaterial for effecting the armoring of the cable, and said mechanism andmaterial are rotatedv therewith as tlnml-risulatedcableV passes downwardinto the armoring-dies and out of the latter as a completed armoredcable 17 through an opening in the tloor beneath the machine, as will bemore particularly described in connection with the description of themode of operationof the entire machine. 15.15 are reels for carrying thethin metallic armoring-strips i4 14, said reels being of cylindricalform, with their lower' faces resting upon roller-bearings in grooves incylindrical depressions inr the upper face of the rotary table (i, thereels being held in position by adjustable screws,as clearly illustratedin Fig. 3.

43 43 43 are guide-rolls secured directly to son the rotary table t5 andstandard 7 by rigid arms 44 44 44, their function being to guide thearmoring-strips to the guideways before they enter the armoring-dies.

is an electric motor or equivalent source of power secured beneath theframe 1 of the machine and having on one end of its armature-shaft abeveled pinion adapted to drive a bevel gear-wheel 18, secured directlyto the hollow shaft 5.

19 is a gear-wheel journaled directly to an upward extension of theframe 1, said gearwheel `meshing with a gear-wheel 20, which in turn isadapted to drive a gear-wheel 21 and a pinion 22, carried upon the sameshaft and meshing with an additional gear-wheel 23, carried by anothershaft having upon its upper end a pinion 24, '.neshingwith a vgearwheel25 upon a shaftcarrying a beveled pinion 26, which meshes with a bevelgearwheel 27 upon a shaft. carrying at its other end a pinion 28,meshing with pairs of gear-wheels 29 29, adapted to drive two pairs offeedingrolls 12 12 13 13 in such manner as to feed the metalarmoring-strips 14 14 through thc guideways in the trough 11to the diesS S, said trough, dies, and supports 9 and 10 for the dies, togetherwith the immediately-connected gearing and pinions 20'to 2f), inclusive,being supported and carried by the rotary table 6, so that thegear-'wheel 20 as it rotates arou nd the gear-wheel 19 will impartmotion to all ofv the interconnected gearing. 'lhe dies S S, trough 11,feeding-rolls 12 12 1313, and guideways in the trough are substantiallylike the same parts disclosed in the before-mentioned patents and needno further description here, the invention in the present instanceconsisting, as hereinbe'fore indicated, in mechanism Afo Failtpt n gthese pa rts disclosed in my beforementionedpa-tents t o armor a cableor a tube or to manufacture 'a` flexible tube, of metal strips andof-indeiinite length. 30 is abe've'l` pinion meshing with the bevelgear-wheel 27 and also wit-h an additional hollow bevel gearwheel 31,which is journaled in the upper end of a hollow support carried directlyby the table 6.

32 32 are friction-rollers, three or more, adjustably secured to theupper face of the hollow bevel gear-wheel 31 and in such manner thatthey may be brought into frictional relation with the com pletedlcable17 as it passes downward.

I have described so far sufficient. mechanism for effecting the resultsought. It is found, however, that with such a mechanism there isnecessarily much momentum, owing to the weight of the t-able (i and themechanism and armoring material carried thereby, and that serious damagemay be imparted to the cable upon varying or stopping the application ofpower to the driving gear-wheel 18. For the purpose of overcoming theevil effects of this momentum I have provided braking mechanism in thenature of two curved brakeshoes 34 34, having movement to and from theouter cylindrical face of the table G, said brake-shoes heilig connectedby' toggle-levers 35 35 to rigid arms 36 36, Vsupported at their innerends directly by the frame 1.

37 37 are links connected at their upper ends to the toggle-levers 35 35and at their lower ends to brake-controlling levers 3S 3S, fulcrumed, asshown, and connected in turn by links 3H 39 and a cross bar or pin 40 toa treadlc 41 42, being a strong spiral spring for normally maintainingthe outer end of the treadle in its upper position and the brakeshoes 34out of mechanical contact with the cylindrical face of the rotary tableli.

The operation is as follows: The insulated cable 16, as shown in Fig. 4of the drawings, is passed downward from a supply-reel (not shown)located in a room and on a loor above the machine and in such quantityas maybe desired. The'armoring-strips 14 14 are wound upon the reels 15l5 and secured in position in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of thedrawings. 'lhe free ends thereof are then passed around theguide-101151434343 43 and into the guideways in the trough 11 andhetween the feeding-rolls 12 12 and 13 13 to the dies S 8, after whichthe machine is set in motion by applying vpower in the proper directionin any preferred manner to the'bevel gearwheel 1S, thereby rotating thehollow shaft 5, and hence the rotary table 6, in the direction shown bythe arrow in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Consequently the gear-wheel 19imparts motion to the several gear-wheels 20, 2l, 23, 24, 25, 2t), and27 in the directions indicated by the arrows, thereby impartin; r to thetwo pairs of feeding-rolls 12 12 and 13 13 motion in the properdirections to feed said strips forward to the dies in the saine manneras disclosed in my before-mentioned patents. Hence as the table rotatesaround the cable 1b' it is armored and .drawn forward by the aimoringaetio1rof the mechanism, passing.r downward through the hollow 'shaft5-and opening in the floor as a completed 17. At the same time motion isimparted by the gear-wheel 27 to the bevel-pinion 30 and from it tothebevel gear-wheel 31, thus causing the friction-rollers to prevent thecable from being unnecessarily twisted or strained by the armoringaction already described. In other words, the friction-rollers act as abrake upon the forward or twisting action due to the pressure of thearmoring action upon the suspended insulated cable 16, so that as thecable is thus armored it passes out and is received and stored in a roombelow in such quantity as may be desired. Should there be any tendencyfor the rotary table and its supported mechanism and armoring materialto run wild by reason of its momentum, the attendant simply applies thebrake by placing his foot upon the treadle 42, thereby causing thebrake-shoes to come into mechanical contact with the lateral face of therotary table through the agency of the connecting mechanism describedand shown.

IIO

article xo further cable it is only required to splice and insulate theadjoining end. of an additional W'hen the supply of armoring-stripsbecomes exhausted, it is only necessary to supplant the reels shown inthe drawings with anadditional pair of reels havinga furthersupplyofarmoring-stri ps and to splice the outer or free ends of said strips bybrazing or in any other Well-known mannerto the ends of the strips fl'already used,"afterfwhich` vthe process of arf vskilled in the' art.

moring Ais continued as before. In a similar manner when it becomesnecessary to add cable to the end of the one already being armored in amanner well understood by those In this way armored cables'maybegconstructed of any desired lengt-h. I dol not limit my invention tothe specific N -details of construction illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and hereinbefore described.

I believe it is broadly new withme to. armor a cable of indefinitelength by forcing one ormore armoring-strips through dies around thecable in the manner disclosed in my before-mentioned ,patents and tocarry .the mechanismwhich thus elects the armoring and the su ppl yofmaterial for such apparatus continuously aroundv the cable to bearmored,

'and in this generic feature lies'the essence of thisin'vention; nordovI limit' my `invention vto the armoring of electric cables, as it mayobviously be utilized inthe manufacture o f- 1 Vtlexibletubesofinletinite length' composed of oueor more '.meta'l'; stripsforcedthrough dies. in 'a maurrerhereiubefore descibed,and

my claims arede'signed 'to bei-of such 'scope' as to includethemanufacture of such tubes. Q

I make no claim in the presentiapplication to thevmethodrof operationpracticed bythe mechanism herein cdisclosed forfarrnoring electriccables of indefinite length, as such a f method constitutes thesubject-.matter of a separate application tiled by me in the UnitedStates Patent Oflice on the 31st day of J uly,

1902, bearing Serial No. 117,809,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim,'and desire to secu reby Letters Patent ofthe United States, is-

I. Mechanism for armoring insulated electric cables of indefinitelengths, consisting of a rotary table and an .armoring die or dies,

and means for supporting the armoring material, all carried by saidtable; in oombina. tion with meansfor imparting' rotary motion to thetable and forward motion to the armoring material through the'rdies,substan- 'tially 'as described.

2. Mechanism for armoring insulated electriccables of indefinitelengths, consisting of a rotary table and means for-rotating it con-l`tinuously in onel direction; inl vcombination with an armoring die ordies and one or more vreels for1v supporting an armoring strip orstrips, said die ordiesand reels being sup.

ported by the table and adapted to rotate i therewith, substantiallyasdescribed. 3. 'Mechanism for armoring insulatedelectric cables ofindefinite lengths, consisting of with an armoring die or dies and meansfor supporting'asupply of armoring material, all of said parts beingcarried bythe table, substantially as described.

Mechanismffor armoring insulated electric cables of'indefi nite lengths,consisting of "a rotary dtable,armoring mechanism of diel likeconstruction, means for supporting a supply' ofv armorin'g `material,vand Ameans for*v forcing said armoring materialk through thel`dielform'ing mechanism and around the cable;

in combination with means c'a'rred'also bythe table and actingfrictionally upon kthe completed armored cable in such direction as to rprevent the same from being unduly twisted as it is fed forward,substantially as described.

'In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification inthepresence of two subscribingwitnesses. i

Witnesses: K Y WILLIAM T1. RUETE, CHARLES J. KINTNER.

EDWIN TGREENFIELD; I A

